How Much Hope Does One Have?
by herbblood
Summary: During a case, the team notices something different with Reid. But after several incidents they take him to the doctor. When they get the results, they have to pull themselves together. They have to support him and believe he will get better. Even in times of trouble, even when there is no hope to be found.
1. The First Signs

**A/N : My First Criminal Minds Story! I always like these kinds of stories. Hope you all like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds in any way. I do own my OC's, and the plot. **

* * *

The sound of ringing woke up Spencer. He was dazed at first but when the weariness faded away, he realised it was the phone. He looked at the clock on his table and saw the time. It was 3:18 pm. He then went over to the phone and picked it up after the third ring. "Spencer, it's JJ. We have a new case." Said the media specialist of the team.

"When?" Was all he could ask in his tired mood.

"We leave in an hour, do hurry. It seems really bad this time." JJ said before hanging up the phone.

After listening to the dial tone for a couple of seconds, he went over to his closet to pull out some clothes and his go bag. He knew this was going to end his weekend off. After making sure he looks presentable he went out of his apartment and headed to the BAU.

* * *

JJ put down her cell phone. She just called the entire team to make sure they get here. She had looked over the files of this case several times already, this was really bad. But because she has Henry makes her a bit biased, she reasoned. She grimaced when she made photocopies of the case for the team. She grabbed her go bag and went to where everyone else was.

* * *

Spencer looked around he was the third person to get here. Like usual, there was Hotch and JJ. He knew Rossi would be arriving momentarily, then Emily and Morgan would follow. He looked over at JJ. She has a bad frown on her face. Then almost as if on cue Rossi comes over with Emily and Morgan trailing behind.

Hotch looked at everyone and signalled with his hand to get on the jet. Then everyone went to where they usually sit. JJ passed out the photocopies she had made. Hotch cleared his throat then said, "Okay, We received an email from Chief Akton in Canton, Ohio this morning. There has been 5 murders in 6 weeks. From what we see the Unsub is kidnapping kids, then killing them." Spencer looked worriedly at JJ and Hotch. He knew that they always feel bad with cases about kids. "The kids are between ages of 4 and 12. They are both male and female but all have brown hair and small statures."

Morgan looked at Hotch and questioned, "How were they killed, it doesn't specify here?"

Hotch looked at him for a moment before speaking. "They all died of blood loss. They had been cut on the throat. They also showed signs of dehydration and starvation."

"It says here that they were all dressed in cloths,ones not their own, and groomed. Signs of remorse maybe?" Rossi said flipping through the files.

"It looks like it, but the Unsub just dumped their bodies. No signs of remorse there, and apparently they looked like they had been whipped and hit." Emily spoke.

Spencer looked thorough the files reading each page with speed. He rubbed his eyes still tired even after the nap he had taken earlier. He stopped listening to what the others were saying but did his best to register the comments in his mind. After reading all the files he looked up at everyone else. Emily was speaking, "So we have a Serial Killer on our hands."

Everyone looked as if they agreed. Morgan then spoke up, "Reid you okay? You haven't said one word this all time." He looked really concerned.

Reid looked at him in surprise and in a low tone he said "I'm fine Morgan. " Then picking up his speed, " Did you know that last year there were 1,494 child homicides in the United States. Of those killed 1,035 were male, while only 453 were female? Where as about half of those are between the ages of 15 and 17."

Morgan didn't look satisfied with the answer but took it anyway.

*line*

That night after arriving in Ohio, and spending the afternoon getting all the facts and looking over the reports, everyone turned it for the night. They all had to double up, making the room assignments the usual. Reid followed Morgan to their room.

"Pretty boy, you sure your alright?" He questioned the doctor.

"Morgan, I told you already I'm fine." He said as he unlocked the door to their room. He walked in and set his suitcase down next to one of the beds.

Morgan didn't believe him. "Fine, I'm going to take a shower." He went in to the bathroom and locked the door.

Spencer shook his head. Morgan was being silly there was nothing wrong with him. He probably doesn't have enough sleep now. He then opened his suitcase and took out his lounge cloths. Which he subsequently put on.

When he heard the door lock click and start to open he beelined to the bathroom. When he passed Morgan, he felt Morgans arm stopping him from going further. Spencer looked at Morgan and asked, "What?"

"Boy, where did you get that bruise?'" Morgan then pointed at the bruise that had formed at the top of his forearm. It had been concealed during the day by his shirt but now it was open to the public. The bruise itself was a dark brown and blue. It was several inches long and a about 1.5 inches wide.

Spencer looked at Morgan then at the bruise. He did not know that it had even been there. He scanned his memory for times he could have gotten the bruise. He found nothing. He spoke, "I don't know."

Morgan looked in disbelief. "That is a pretty bad bruise. With eidetic memory you should know." He almost yelled.

After that outburst he couldn't take it. "I said I don't know!" I pulled his arm away and walked into the bathroom. The door closed with a bang and Morgan heard a click from the lock.

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**Fix8/26 : Sorry about the spelling i fixed them i think!**

**Do review and tell me how you like it! I will try me best to update often!**


	2. The Fall

**Update! I'm so happy I was able to update so soon. Anyways thanks for everyone reading the first chapter!**

**I especially thank everyone who Favorited, followed or reviewed!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds in any way. I do own my OC's, and the plot.**

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The next few days passed by slowly for Morgan and Spencer. Morgan kept trying to apologize to Spencer, but Spencer did his best to avoid him at every possible moment. The other team members noticed the tension between the two and tried to help. But nothing worked.

On the fourth day of the case, Hotch and the others couldn't stand the two the way they're acting. Hotch ordered the two to go and interview a possible witness to one of the kidnappings. A kid named Stacy had played with the girl who had been recently kidnapped. One second they were playing hide and seek the next Stacy was screaming that the bad man took her.

The drive over was silent except for when Morgan tried to apologize once more. When they pulled into a driveway. Morgan tried once more, "Reid, please. Hear me-" He was cut off.

"I don't want to hear it." Reid snapped and got out of the car.

"Come on, just let me-" Morgan tried to plead.

"Lets get inside and finish this." Reid started walking toward the door to the house.

It was a nice house. The model kind for most people; shutters, large backyard, whit picket fence. The garden in front of the house was maintained well, but the grass needed agood mowing.

Before Reid was able to ring the doorbell, the door swung open. It was a little girl about 3 and a half feet tall. Her hair was blond and cut crisply at her neck. There was a small smile on her face, but a bruise on part of her neck. "Hi. Are the policemen?" She said. "The ones who want to talk to me?"

Morgan sighed. " Yeah, were the policemen. Where are your parents right now?"

"Fathers at work, and mom is upstairs taking care of the baby." Stacy replied.

"Okay, Can your mom come down here? We need to talk to her to." Morgan gave a small grin to the girl.

The girl didn't even reply, she had started to run upstairs. After a moment Spencer remembered something. "Morgan, didn't Garcia tell us that Stacy was an only child?"

Morgan did his best to try to recall that conversation. "Yeah, I think so. Maybe the kid is just really young now. Like it was just born." Reid pondered this thought but before he could finish thinking they heard a loud voice from upstairs, and two pairs of footsteps came pounding down the stairs.

The other person was likely the Mother, Spencer deduced. She had wavy, black hair down to the middle of her back. She also had bags under her eyes. "Who are you? Tell me." She ordered them.

"We are SSA Morgan and SSA Dr. Reid. We are here to talk to your daughter." Reid obeyed.

The Mother huffed. "Well the fine, you don't need me to talk to you." She turned around to head back upstairs.

"All we need is the permission to talk to your daughter then." Reid said hastily.

"Do what ever you want to her. I have to go take care of my baby." She replied and was then out of sight upstairs.

They talked about what Stacy saw that day. When they finished they said their goodbyes and went heir own ways. Reid was suspicious, only a bit about the family, but any were gone soon after. As they were going back to the car Spencer started to get dizzy, the world to him was spinning rapidly. He grabbed on to the hood of the car and tried to steady himself. Then all went black.

Morgan was walking in front of spencer. But suddenly he heard a crash. He turned around and saw Spence falling to the ground. He caught he just before he hit the ground. Morgan started to panic. He had no idea what to do for when someone faints. Then Spencer started to open his eyes. He blinked a couple of times before Morgan said anything.

"Reid are you okay?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. Just-" Spencer paused. "Dizzy."

Morgan helped Spencer maneuver into the car before starting their drive back to the Police Station. After a while Morgan said, "Reid I really am sorry for my outburst before."

There was a long pause before Reid replied. "Yeah, I know. I guess I overreacted to what happened."

Morgan smiled. "So were good now, right?"

"Yeah." Reid mumbled.

It was silent most of the way back, untill Morgan broke it again. "Why did you faint before, pretty boy?"

Reid looked over the possible reasons why. "I think, maybe it was because i had low blood sugar or was overheated."

Morgan nodded those were possible reasons. But he still was worried that Spencer had fainted in the first place.

* * *

That night the team decided to all go out for chinese together. There was a chinese place right next to the station. They all ordered their normal foods, and Spencer asked for a fork. The team talked about the case and the details of the unsub. Spencer was listening and giving out the details of what they had gotten from Stacy earlier in the day.

During the entire time, Spencer wasn't that hungry. He did eat some of it but mostly he just pushed food around on his plate.

Derek was worried, but he wasn't going to voice it. At least in front of everyone.

Then JJ spoke up. "Aren't you hungry Spence?" She asked noticing the amount of food left on his plate.

The conversation stopped there. "No, not really." He replied and shrugged.

The conversation picked up when Spencer detoured it to a different topic.

* * *

It was almost a week later when they were able to get on the jet to go back home.

The unsub or actually unsubs were Stacy's parents. Well, more like kidnappers. They had taken Stacy as a trial run for the rest. But once she was there she didn't leave, nor did they kill her. The mother's 'baby' was actually the recent kidnapped kid. He remembered what he was thinking before he fainted the other day. He was right to be suspicious.

His thinking was stopped when he heard Rossi shout, "Reid, your nose!"

He lifted his hand to his nose and when he pulled away noticed blood on his hand. Emily had gone and found a box of tissues. "Here, take one and tilt your head back." He did so.

The Jet was silent waiting for Spencer's nose to stop bleeding. After a while, Spencer's head lifted to its normal position. He took the blood-stained tissue away. "It stopped." He said.

Emily smiled, "YOu might want to clean your face. There is some blood on it."

Spencer got up to go to the bathroom to clean up. As he was walking, only a couple of steps from the door he got dizzy again. But before he realized that it was happening, he blacked out again.

All the people on the Jet saw Spencer fall over, and all of them rushed to him. Morgan reached him first. "Oi! Spencer, wake up!" He lightly patted Spencer's cheek in attempt to rouse him. Spencer didn't move he stayed still.

Hotch reached over and checked Spencer's pulse. He was relieved to find it beating normally. "Morgan, take Reid over to the couch and lay him on it. He just passed out."

During the rest of the jet ride, no one said mush. When Spencer hadn't woken by the time they got back to Quantico Hotch told JJ to call an ambulance.

Everyone feared that something was wrong.

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**It's only a bit longer than the first chapter. I planned to write a bit longer... but I got a bit rushed. Hope you liked it!**

**Please Review!**


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